watch buying decisions

[KennethRSloan]

Buying both is a given. The question is which to buy NOW. The one still in production will be available later. Snap up the LE now...and put the other on your "to buy" list.

[Domo]

Buy watch no. 1 and sell the one you already have, or buy watch no. 2 and keep the one you have. Who wants two of the same watch?

[Banker]

I would buy the LE now. You will always kick yourself for not picking one up when you had the chance. You can always get #2 down the road.

[Chase]

All things being equal I'd go for #1

[Nutty28]

With #1., it depends on how similar to the one I already own. If it was marginal, I would save up and go with #2. Of course, this is me coz I don't flip my watches.

But, if I am willing to part with the existing one, I would flip it (regardless of price), and use the funds to get #1 (presuming I really like its design/ style), and then save up for #2.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KennethRSloan]

Depends on the style of your "collection". If it's small, and every watch has to tick off many unique boxes, and you can't afford too much overlap, then you can't keep both the one your have AND the LE variation. On the other hand, some collections are all about the small differences that tell a story about the development of technology or style.

Personally, I would hesitate to get a new, completely different watch if I already had multiple "singletons" - I would first look for close relatives. For me it's about the rich texture of close relatives AS WELL AS the extreme range of possibilities. I need both.

[hayday]

Try them both on and see which feels "right" to you and on the wrist. If you still can't decide, a coin flip may be in order. Either that or have someone make the decision for you.

-hayday

[synequano]

I'd go for the cheaper LE since it's harder to find

[drunken monkey]

....and now I add some pictures....

watch 1 is something I've shown before recently and given that I've only posted one watch image in god knows how long, it should be quite obvious:

(TAG)Heuer 300SLR


this is a very polarising watch in many ways to many people.
let's forget the colour scheme for now (which I love by the way so this is a non-issue for me).

As you know, I have a very early 1887 Carrera in black.


so the first question is, what's the difference?

First of all, the regular watch is very clearly on the smarter side of smart casual. The very stark all black framed by a very thin silver edge lends this watch a very formal appearance, much more formal that the original 1963/64 Carrera ever was. The larger modern size certainly doesn't help as that very large crystal is hardly discreet and the modern size means that all of the dial furniture is also modern sized to suit and that results in a large face with a lot of very shiny elements on it.

The 300SLR however, is very much firmly on the casual side.
Where everything surface you see on the regular watch is polished, the 300SLR is adorned with matt surfaces that breaks up the shine. Starting with the face of the watch, where the regular watch has a very narrow topped, distinctly angled bezel, the 300SLR has a much flatter/wider brushed bezel, instantly reducing the feeling of delicacy. The wider appearance of the bezel also serves to reduce the visual appearance of the size of the dial, something that is aided by the location of a chapter ring that pushes the hour markers further inward. Adding to this is the fact that the markers are that little bit bigger and are actually adorned with a slither of lume in the centre where Genta might've inserted an onyx bar.


You will also note the use of a specific box-ended hands for the chronograph sub-dials as well as an additional flash of colour to the end of the chronograph seconds hand. The subdials are also filled with markers compared to the very stark and minimalist regular model. What all this does, is fill the dial to a much greater extent than the regular watch.
Purity of design is replaced by purpose (ok, 30min counters do still get me crossed-up sometimes....)
Instead of pretty, you get handsome.

Then there's that dial. The flat mat black is replaced by a beautiful degradé sunburst that simply alive. If I am willing to put more into the cliché jar, then I must say that it is a dial that appears to always be in motion.
At times, it looks to be a plain sunburst as it does here


but then when light hits it, the centre glows and there is a magical moment when the rings on the sub-dials joins in the dance.

You can also see in the previous photo that the watch just looks chunkier and thus less dress-like.
Whilst in principle it is pretty much the same watch as I already have, it really does have a different character.

And of course, because I can ignore it no longer, it is orange and brown after all.
There's something about saying that just makes me grin.




so what is watch 2?
it should also be obvious now - Calibre 18 Telemeter "Glassbox"


what is there to say?
Holy Hell this is ****ing gorgeous.

Where I've had to try to find photos where the 300SLR looks as good as it does in real life, I've had to try to find photos of this one where it looks as drab as the 300SLR looks in photos.
On paper, this is my perfect modern Carrera.
39mm - check.
Panda Dial - check
3-9 sub dial (ok... this is a comprise from the 3-6-9 2447NS stylee but whatevers) - check
Vintage style high dome crystal - check

What's more, the Calibre 18 is a TAGHeuer propriatary DD module that is thinner than the one used in the Calibre 17 so you have very little offset between the crown and the pushers; something that has always bugged me about the Calibre 17 watches. You can see what I mean here - notice how the crown sits below the line of the case body (that's not actually a calibre 17 as the eagle eyed will spot but that is the same case)



Here you can see how very much in-line the crown and pushers are on the Calibre 18 in comparison


You can also see how deep that crystal is and how shallow the watch case body is, making a much closer match the original watches than any modern version has come yet.

So what else?
The dial is pretty much the closest we've gotten to the desirable vintage models yet. I can ignore the peculiar choice of scale but it's presence, along with its scale does the same face shrinking trick. On this watch, what it also serves to do is help reduce the look that the Link Calibre18 has of having the subdials too close together. Measure the distance between the edge of the dial to the edge of the sub-dial and tell me if that isn't the same as the distance between the sub-dials. The chunkier looking hands and big looking sub-dials is just right here.
Another overlooked touch is that the hour markers are set in line with the date window cut-out.
How about that the double marker at 12 is a pretty good match for the date window cut-out too?

I just can't find anything wrong with the dial here where if I were to be critical, I can still see that little too much empty space on the 41mm 1887 dial, something not helped by the sub-dial layout. That isn't too bad on the minimalist regular watch because it fits but on the more casual 300SLR, I'm not so sure.
About the only criticism on the Calibre 18 is that I wish they used the 1887 style pushers.


I suppose I can't ignore the pricing question.
For a while now, I had settled on the idea that I would get the 300SLR used for about £1600-1800 but out of the blue, one of my birdies tells me that he can source a brand new one from AD stock clearance for about £1900-2200 (currency/tax depending).
That is literally half the price of the ADIS Calibre18 that is brand new to market and priced at around £4000 msrp. At best I think I can push that to around £3200 maybe but still, not getting the new watch means I can (yeah yeah, I know...) get the 300SLR and continue the retro vibe by picking up the Oris Sixty Five with the remainder.

Too many cool watches.
How does one decide which is more important?



FYI:
I love the orange Chronoris and my favourite GMT is the Rootbeer.
FYI 2:
The Seiko I passed up before is now actually potentially cheaper than the Calibre 18 Carrera.
WTF?

[Der Amf]

All three. No problems. All three. I would.